Obama Administration ignores wishes of Navajo Nation

Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley says he is "disappointed" with the actions of the Obama Administration's EPA, which has, without notice to the Tribe, "...asked an appeals board to allow the agency to reconsider an air permit issued last year for a planned coal-fired power plant on the Navajo Nation in northwestern New Mexico."

The Desert Rock Power Plant has been controversial, pitting environmentalists and traditionalists against the government of the Navajo Nation and the Tribe's desire for jobs and economic development - this even though the new power plant is intended to be  "one of the cleanest coal-burning power plants in the nation and it would generate more than $50 million in annual revenues for the tribe and create jobs for a reservation where more than half of people are unemployed."

President Shirley has asked for a meeting with US President Obama to discuss the issue.  However, since the EPA didn't even notify the tribal government officials before making the request, it is doubtful that Washington will respond favorably.

Read the full story HERE in the Santa Fe New Mexican.

twp